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Waffling on and on

We have something of a love-hate relationship with our waffle maker. Back in the day of believing that Krups doesn’t make crap, we bought an electric waffle maker. All attempts at waffle-making with the included recipe and several epicurious versions resulted in things which resembled waffles, but were nothing like. Examples:

Too dry. Tasted like weetabix.

Too soggy. Tasted like my insoles.

After a few more similar attempts at waffles-that-didn’t-taste-like-the-waffles-of-Belgium, we stashed Krups-kie away on the top shelf and forgot about him. But things got moved around in the kitchen, and Krups-kie’s gigantic box migrated into my baking drawer. MY baking drawer. Where it took up space and prevented easy access to the baking trays. Much muttering about Krups-kie’s white elephant status ensued until I gave Krups-kie an ultimatum: prove yourself useful or to Goodwill you go!

Poor old Krups-kie appealed to me, he appealed to P, he appealed to my second stomach, but to no avail! Then, with a stroke of genius, he appealed to Finlaggan’s Mama1: Fin, purveyor of all things starchy, might just fancy waffles for his Sunday breakfast. Cogs churned, and so did butter. This crapskie Krups-kie that was taking up precious bakeware space might just have a reprieve. But a little more reading and researching of electric waffle techniques was needed to prevent Fin’s First Waffle from being an abject failure. The interwebs to the rescue!

I’ve lost the original link now, but a review of a different electric waffle maker on Amazon2 had a few really useful tips. And P added a few from his none-too-successful relationship with Krups-kie.

Oil, oil, oil. Grease every micrometer of the waffle maker with olive oil or butter3.

Heat, heat, heat. Always allow the waffle maker to reach its optimum temperature before adding the batter. It may ping or a light may come on or go off. In the case of our Krups-kie, the green light comes on while it’s heating, and goes off when it’s ready. Counter-intuitive, no?

Pour, pour, and spread. P’s top tip is to make sure all the studs are covered. Our Krups-kie takes ~ 1/2 cup of batter per waffle. I would measure it, but P wings it and the whole thing floods out, leading to much cleaning with towels and toothpicks.

Patience, patience, patience, but don’t let it burn! This bit is trickier. For a given recipe, leave the waffle maker closed tight until the recommended time (unless the waffle is burning; use your nose). Leave it closed if it’s still steaming. Check every minute until you have a golden brown waffle. But leave it too long and it will dry out or burn. Remember the time for your first, failed attempt at perfection. Try and try again with variations until perfection occurs. WRITE THE TIME AND CONDITIONS DOWN IF YOU DON’T WANT A DIVORCE.

Try, try and try again. Especially if it’s detailed in your pre-nup.

Krups-kie’s fight for survival.

Krups-kie trying his best.

After a lot of faffing… Actually, no. Despite our inherent distrust of Krups-kie, he delivered on first go.

Ugly, but just right. But what says Finlaggan, judge of all things starchy?

2 All hail the mighty Amazon. Or if you’re an independent bookstore: All despise the soon-to-be monopoly.

3 Choose your oil with care. Some oils break down into all sorts of nasty free radicals with heat. I’m sticking to olive oil or butter (saturated fat) for heating until I can find the enthusiasm to do the research.

4 That may have more to do with my refusal to stick his big box back in the baking drawer than to do with his new golden-boy status.